Smoke alarms save family of five

smoke detectors saved the lives of a couple and their three young children after fire swept through the family home.

The blaze, believed to have been caused by a wood burner in the dining room of the house in Greaves Drive, Lancaster, broke out at about 3am on Saturday.

Jill Green and her partner Stuart Benson were woken by their three smoke alarms, which were fitted by the fire service last year, and managed to get their 11-year-old son Jack and daughters, Eva, five, and two-year-old Ruby, out of the house safely.

The fire gutted the dining room as well as causing severe damage to the kitchen and the girls’ bedroom. But this week the couple said they were just grateful to have survived – and highlighted the need for smoke alarms.

“We woke up to the sound of the alarms going off,” Stuart, 32, said. “I shot out of bed and ran downstairs, but you couldn’t see anything and I couldn’t work out where I was.

“It was just thick black smoke. You couldn’t see any flames but could hear a crackling noise.